Librarian at University of Nevada at Reno brings history to Facebook.
“Facebook user “joe1915” writes wall posts that would be familiar to any college student these days: He stresses about tests, roots for his university’s football team, and shows off photos from campus dances.

But Joe McDonald isn’t an average smartphone-toting student. He died in 1971 — 33 years before Facebook arrived on the Web.

Donnelyn Curtis, the director of research collections and services at the University of Nevada at Reno, created Facebook profiles for Mr. McDonald and his wife, Leola Lewis, to give students a glimpse of university life during the couple’s college days. Ms. Lewis graduated in 1913, and Mr. McDonald earned his degree in mechanical engineering two years later.”From Nick DeSantis’s post on Wired Campus, “On Facebook, Librarian Brings 2 Students From the Early 1900s to Life”

Nate Hill examines eReader lending in libraries.
“I’d like to explain why I don’t think eReader lending (Nook, Kindle, Sony, any reader at all) is a good plan for public libraries. It’s not that lending eReaders is a *bad* thing at all: if someone gifts your library a garbage bag full of Nooks, what the heck, please use them! Instead I’d argue that libraries can have some foresight and spend their dollars on other programs, equipment, and skillset development for both staff and the people in their communities that will far transcend the fleeting, temporary lifespan of the next version of the Kindle, Nook, or whatever other piece of consumer electronic garbage is currently fashionable.”From Nate Hill’s post, “An eBook is not a Book”

UK National Archive digitizes British telecom history.
“The project is a collaboration between Coventry University, BT Heritage and The National Archive and aims to catalogue, digitise and develop a searchable online archive of almost half a million photographs, images, documents and correspondence. It is being funded with a grant from JISC (formerly the UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee)…

The rise of digital textbooks continues.
“Florida and Texas led a major push for digital materials in the classroom in 2011, strengthening the foundation for the use of technology intextbook adoption states. According to a recent report from publishing forecast firm Simba Information, sales generated from state textbook adoption programs totaled $660 million in 2011.

Texas provided a snapshot of the digital trend in K-12 schools when it called for all submissions in supplemental science in grades 5-12 to be digital. In addition, Texas included digital materials for the language arts; however the uptake was slight, with teachers preferring their own materials in digital formats, rather than those of their students.”From Paul Biba’s, “Texas, Florida lead transformation to digital textbooks”